Machine for curling hat-brims.



No. 642,726. Patented Feb. 6, |900. C. H. SKINNER.

MACHINE FOR CURLING HAT BRIMS.

(Application Bled Apr. 1, 1898.)

(No Model.)

' NTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. SKINNER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

MACHINE FOR CURLING HAT-BRIMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,726, dated February6, 1900.

Application filed April 1 1398. Serial No. 676,097. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. SKINNER, a citizen of the UnitedStates,residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machinesfor Curling Hat- Brims; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to the machinery employed for curling the brim on ahat, and in addition to possessing one signal advantage in the method ofcurling said brim as against any of the present machines in use for suchpurposes the whole construction of my machine is improved by theintroduction of new elements and combinations of elements, resulting ingreater simplicity of cooperation between the different parts.

In describing my invention I shall call attention to the accompanyingdrawings, where like letters of reference indicate corresponding partsin the different views.

Figure l shows a side view of my improved brim-cu rling machine; Fig. 2,arear end view of Fig. l with parts omitted for the sake of clearness inillustration; Fig. 3, a side view of thebracket supporting thechain-gearing, with one of the chain-drums shown in section; Fig. 4, atop view of the part of the chain which forms the brim-curling arc, thechaindrums with the upper parts broken off, and a section of thegear-wheel that meshes with the chain-teeth; Fig. 5, a top view of afemale link of the curling-chain; Fig. 6, a side view of the saine; Fig.7, a front View of said female link; FigS, a side view of a male link;Fig. 9, a front view of the male link, and Fig. l0 is a detail view ofthe bracket G.

In Fig. l, A indicates a disk having teeth cut in the rim thereof andhaving an upper part A2, which acts as a guide for the formation of thecurling-arc caused by the flanges L2 of the links coming in contact withthe rim of said part A2 successively, as will be more fully explained asthe description proceeds.

, Secured in a suitable manner to this disk A is a perpendicular shaftB, having at its nether end a pinion C attached, which pinionfC gearsinto a worm D, mounted on a shaft E, the said shaft being supported inthe bracket E', which is bolted to the frame A.

Frame A is a U-formed shell, as illustrated in cross-section in Fig. 2,having, as above indicated, the perpendicular shaft B running downthrough the middle thereof and supporting the disk A at the top.Extending from the top is a bracket-arm F, to which is bolted orotherwise attached a bracket G. On this bracket there are placedpivotally two chaindrums H and H2, of which H is shown in section inFig. 3 mounted on the bracket and secured there by a stud H3, shown infull. Said stud has a flange H4, which bears on the top of the drum, andas the nethermost part of the stud H5 is screw-cut when a nut is screwedon said part it will be seen to afford the necessary binding means forthe drums on the bracket. Around these drums H' and H2, following thedotted line H, which dotted line indicates the travel of thechain-links, is the brim-curling chain K, composed of alternating maleand female links K K2 K3 K4, dac-'in fact as many as will be foundnecessary to form on part of its circumference the length of an arcrequisite to form a good curl on the hat-brim. The construction of theselinks will best be observed'in Figs. 5 to 9. K' represents a female linkand is constructed as follows: Cut out between the overlapping top andbottom parts L and L2 is a semicircular cavity L3, which cavity isnotched so that the raised edge of each notch will carry the hat-brimalong with it during the operation of the curling-iron M on the brim.The rear part of the link has an upper flange L4 and a lower flange L5.Between these flanges the flange N of male links N will be pivoted oneach side by their respective pins O. Said pins consequently act as thelink-pins that join the links of the brimcurling chain together; butthey have one more function and that is the function of a gear-tooth. Tothat effect the lower part O of each pin O is thicker in diameter and sogaged that it meshes with the indents O2, cut in the rim of the disk A.The bracket G supports these teeth in a horizontal position on theirtravel around the drums H and IOO , curling-iron M.

H2, and in addition thereto a support I can be attached by screws to theunder side of the bracket G in order to prevent any sagging of the chainin the rear. The other part necessary to perform the curling operationand complete the mechanism is the As best seen in Fig. l, said iron isattached to a hollow part M', to which any adequate heating means can beattached.

M' is secured to an arm P, pivoted in the recess R3 of the Lipperlever-arm R' of a treadlelever R, said treadle-lcver itself pivoted inthe bracket Q by a pin Q'. The arm P is further supported and regulatedby two pins P' and P2, both integral therewith, said. pins passingthrough holes in the lever-arm R', each having a spring, respectively,P2, coiled around P', and P4, coiled around P2. The springs are held incompression between the lever-arm R and the nuts P5 and P on theirrespective screw-cut ends of the pins P and P2. The sprin gy elasticposition thus afforded -the arm R is controlled by aset-screw P7,

counteracting the upward action of the spring coiled around P', and byset-screw P8, counteracting the rearward action of the spring around P2.The lower lever-arm R2 of the lever R has a treadle S and an arm S', tothe end of which arm one end of a coiled spring T is attached, the otherend of the spring being secured to a pin T', fixed in the frame A, theconsequence of this being that the contracting power of the spring Twill always hold the lower arm R2 up against the pin T', which as theentire lever R moves as one unit-ary element will hold the curling-ironM in the proper position, as shown in Fig. l, so that when the foot isplaced on the trea-dle S the iron M is removed out of the groove in thecurling-chain.

The cooperative action of the dierent parts of the machine describedwill thus be seen to be the following: When a motive power is applied tothe driving-pulley V, the shaft E, carrying the worm D, will be rotated,and the pinion C, attached to the lower end of the perpendicular shaftB, meshing with said worm, will consequently give motion to said shaftand to the disk A', resting on the top of frame A. As this disk A' isfurnished with the indents O2 and consequent projections that mightproperly be termed gearteeth and said teeth intermesh with the linkpinsO', a rotary motion around the chaindrums H and H2 will be given to thebrimcurling chain K. Calling attention to the lower part L2 of, forinstance, the link K', the surface NV of said link will contact with therim of the upper part A2 on the disk A', and speaking of all the linksas they circulate and successively contact with a part of thecircumference of A2 it will be seen that they will form an inverted arc,and as their individual grooves L2 are brought in alinement they willform a closed groove by reason of their being guided against part of thecircumference of the upper part A2 of the disk A'.

This forms the nucleus of myinvention. The inverted are thus formed onthe periphery of the disk A2 will of course depend on the radius of thesaid disk, which again will influence the number of links that will beneeded to aline each other, so as to form the continuous brim-curlinggroove. As soon as the links leave the disk A2and are drawn around thedrums they separate and the arc is then broken. The curling-iron Mnecessary for the formation of the curve in the hat-brim is, asdescribed heretofore, adj ustably secured by means of the pins P' andP2. The holes in the upper lever-arm R2 are, furthermore, elongated-as,for example, the left-hand hole R4 seen in Fig. l--so that the pin inthe arm P resting therein has a certain play horizontally back andforth. Another elongated or slotted hole H8 will be found in the bracketG in order to permit the tightening of the link-chain, so as to take upthe slack therein.

Having thus described my improved machine, I can now refer to theadvantage possessed by it in the method of curling hatbrims mentioned inmy preamble by means of my improved link curling-chain. It is awell-known fact that in all the brim-curling machines now in use thebrim is recipient of a glazed shiny surface received during the processof curling, which is detrimental to the hat, inasmuch as it necessitatesthe rubbing olf of said glazed surface, so as to present the same frowzyor glossy appearance as the rest of the hat. This of course reduces thethickness of the brim and weakens it considerably and does not renderthe quality of the hat what it might otherwise be. It is this fault inthe curling means I have overcome by means of the indentedcontinuously-moving groove formed by the links in the curlingchain asthey in succession form the inverted are heretofore described by beingguided on and by the revolving disk A'.

It will of course readily be understood, that the mere mechanicalaccessories employed in revolving and supporting the curling-chain, aswell as minor details in the general construction of my machine, can bevaried withoutdepartingfrom myinvention. I, further, do not desire tolimit myself to the use of this chain in hat machinery alone, inasmuchas the closed groove in the arc formed from an external center can beput to many useful purposes besides the above-described use in curlinghat-brims.

What I therefore claim, and desire to secure protection for by LettersPatent, is-

l. A chain consisting of grooved links, suitable drums having said chainrevolving around them, means external to the chain closing the linkstogether so as to form a continuous groove on a given part of theperiphery.

2. A chain consisting of grooved links, the groove on each linkfurnished with catching means, suitable drums having the chain revolving around them, an inverted arc, formed IOO IIO

IZO

on the periphery of the chain having its center outside of the saidperiphery, closing the links so as to form a continuous groove.

3. The combination of a chain, consisting of grooved links moving aroundsuitable drums, with means external to the periphery of said chainforming an inverted arc on the periphery causing the links to close andform a continuous groove.

4. As a new mechanical device, a revolving grooved chain having aninverted arc formed on its periphery, means forming said arc havingtheir center lying outside of the periphery of said chain, withcooperative gearing means connecting the said elements.

5. As anew mechanicaldevice, achain cornposed of male and female linksalternating with each other,constructed,connected and revolved asdescribed, each link having a groove furnished with catching means, aninverted arc formed in the periphery of said chain, a continuous grooveformed in said arc by the links having full lateral contact with eachother for the purposes set forth.

6. The combination of a chain having grooved links,suitable drums havingthe chain revolving around them forming an inverted arc on a part of theperiphery having a continuous groove; with a revolving toothed wheelexternal to said periphery engaging said links so as to move the chainaround the drums.

7. In a machine the combination of a chain having grooved links, drumshaving the chain revolving around them so as to form an inverted arcwith a continuous groove formed in such arc, pins joining said links andacting as teeth, a horizontal disk having a guide-recess formed thereon,indents out out in the rim of the said disk fitting the link-pins andgearing means giving motion to said disk and chain.

8. The combination in a machine of a chain having grooved links, pinsjoining said links together acting as teeth, a horizontal disk having aguide-recess formed thereon for guiding the grooved links, indents cutout in t-he rim of the disk fitting the link-pins, gearing means givingmotion to said disk and chain substantially as described.

9. The combination in a brim-curling machine of the curling-iron with agrooved chain suitably supported, the said chain on a certain part ofits periphery forming an inverted arc having a closed groove, ahorizontal by and simultaneous with the said horizontal disk, each linkof the said chain having a groove and a guide-flange, the said fiangesby contact with the guideway on the horizontal disk forming an invertedarc in the said chain, the individual grooves of each link forming acurved closed groove for the purposes set forth, substantially asdescribed.

ll.. In a brim-curling machine the combination of the curling-ironsecured to a treadlelever, a pivoted spring-controlled arm supportingsaid curling-iron, a horizontal disk furnished with teeth and having aguideway, a chain'having grooved links forming an inverted arc bycontact with the said disk, the link-pins of said chain gearing with thediskteethLtWo horizontally-adj ustable drums pivotally attached to abracket suitably secured to the frame guiding the said chain for thepurposes set forth, substantially as illustrated and described.

12. In a brim-curling machine the combination of the curling-ironadjustably secured to a treadle-lever, a horizontal disk furnished withteeth and having a guideway formed thereon, a perpendicular shaftattached to said disk, a pinion secured to the lower end of said shaft,a worm, having motive power suitably transmitted to it, revolving saidpinion, a chain composed of grooved links Whose link-pins intermesh withthe disk-teeth, revolved around two adj ustably-pivoted drums, an arcformed in said chain by contact with the guidewaT on the horizontal diskfor the purposes specilied substantially as illustrated and described. v

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this26th day of March, A.. D. 1898.

CHARLES Il. SKINNER.

Vitnesses:

CHARLES W. BROWER, AUGUST M. TREsoHoW.

IOO

